a) Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a temperature power generation device and a temperature power generation method, and more particularly to one using low work function material and high thermal energy absorbing material to generate thermal electrons which are induced to a conductive layer through an externally applied electric field thereby generating power.
b) Description of the Prior Art
Due to rapid development of scientific technologies and global population growth, the energy consumption has been incessantly increasing; at present, the petroleum shall be the most important energy source, nonetheless, the petroleum storage is decreasing rapidly nowadays, and experts have already predicted the possibility of supply crisis within the next half century. The impending global energy crisis makes people strive to look for renewable energy sources, in which many researchers have been endeavored to reduce unnecessary energy consumptions and explore new energy sources. In recent years, driven by the constant promotions of thermoelectric material performances and the factors of environmental protection issues such as greenhouse effect/CO2 reduction, etc, the method of large scale thermal energy conversion to electricity has been generally emphasized in the developed countries such as Japan, USA and European nations.